How much data can your brain hold, what do you think?

34 Replies - 1791 Views - Last Post: 05 December 2008 - 11:01 PM

Your capacity?

Posted 27 November 2008 - 08:52 AM

How much data can your brain hold, what do you think? The question arose while I was watching Johnny Mnemonic, just now :-)
To answer my question I'd say my capacity is somewhere around 80 Gb., maybe less.
I wander, if there were any studies done on the subject?

Re: Your capacity?

Posted 27 November 2008 - 12:21 PM

For all practical purposes, the brain's capacity to store memories and knowledge is infinite. It's a complicated explanation why, but it involves the fact that memories/knowledge are stored by certain sequences of neurons firing in the brain, and since there are over 100 billion neurons in most human brains, the possible combinations of neurons is near infinite, since the brain is generating new neurons all the time, and it is constantly changing.

Yea, this whole field of study is relatively new, and it's my understanding that the processes by which memories are stored physically in the brain is not entirely understood at present. There is a lot of research being done on it, though.... my brother is on the cutting edge with this kind of research (though not specifically in memories0, and I know some other professors who are into this stuff. So yea, neurology is awesome. Take classes in it if you ever get a chance.

Re: Your capacity?

Posted 28 November 2008 - 06:00 AM

Since the bit, byte, and their similar measurements are actually the space required to store information on a computer, it may not have a huge bearing as to how much the human brain can hold. If you were insistent on using the byte as a measurement for the brain, however, then you also need to take into account the format in which something is stored. A video of me reading you this caveat takes far more storage room than a recording of me reading it to you, which in itself takes far more than simply storing the text of the caveat (although you'd then be missing my odd combination of a nasal baritone voice).